Saigon

Saigon now Ho Che Min City

The Vietnam war ended in 1975 and the new regime took over using Hanoi in the north as the capital of Vietnam, a nation of some 40 or more ethnic groups. Conquests of Vietnam included Chinese occupation for 1000 years followed by the French, then the Japanese in WW11. A split occurred after the country was liberated from the Japanese and the French returned until 1954 when French forces were soundly beaten at Dien Bien Pu. The country was divided between North and South.

War came tragically again in the 60’s which ended in 1975 after the US pulled out from supporting the South and the Communist forces reunified the country. So what is it like now?

Well surprise, surprise, visitors and trade are very welcome. the Vietnamese people we met were cheerful, polite (even the street sellers) and hospitable. No rancor considering the terrible turmoil the country has been through. They are now in a massive catch up quick race with China.

It is like China in many respects, building is going on everywhere. We rode the highway from Phu Mai, the port where we tied up, to the center of Saigon and saw houses being torn down to make compartment blocks and new roads. Thousands of cranes, bulldozers, earth movers, heavy trucks and all the apparatus for making roads, bridges, civic projects and apartments were parked on dirt lots ready for employment. Occasionally we saw rubber plantations, rice paddies (three crops a year in this location), narrow, tall 3-4 storey houses left by the French. Apparently the price of land is houses were very high for building, so the houses had a frontage of 15-20 feet but were built back 100 -150 feet. Road frontage must have been the issue and that appears to be the case still with the new ones going up.

So after forty miles of bumpy dusty highway we came into the lovely city of Saigon.

Some interesting statistics.

Population of Vietnam 88 million. Population of Saigon, its biggest city, 8+ million. Number of motorcycles on the roads 4 million and counting. The impact is overwhelming. At every city road junction 50 -60 motorcycles are lined up to cross the traffic which does not stop. So the amazing feats of slow weaving of the traffic is a sight to see. Only a special feature of the Asian temperament could allow this to work. It could not happen in Europe. I have seen it done in Rome and it is lethal to pedestrians but it works in Saigon. Most of the motorcycles are 100 cc Hondas, one or two Harleys per 1000.

We took lots of pictures and video as it was so interesting, a mixture of ancient Vietnam, French colonial buildings. The cathedral, Notre Dame, the post office, opera, museums and government buildings and luxurious hotels are examples. Today, the entry of the global enterprises like Mac Donald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken etc. You would be surprised how many 7 elevens we counted. Sheila has deciede the seven wonders of the world today are; MacDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Burger King, Starbucks, Jack in a Box, Pizza Hut, and 7 eleven. they are everywhere even on the small island resorts like Ko Samui. Back to Saigon, The Gucci’s, Versace and all the high end overpriced stuff are there. The five star hotel chains, French and American are there too. Apart from the Vietnamese road and business signs we could be in any European city looking upwards, but at ground level we see pedestrians in the shallow conical sun hats traditional in this part of Asia and no fat Vietnamese people-----yet! One other thing of note, the young people of Saigon are very good looking, no beggars or pan handlers and everyone seems to have something to do.

The bus stopped in the square opposite Notre Dame, dodging the motorbikes and went into the post office. A magnificent French building great mosaic floors, lovely wood furniture and telephone kiosks, great looking tunnel ceiling. How did this survive? Could it be that the Vietnamese are more civilized than their colonizers? And so it was with all the civic buildings. We saw the presidential palace where the last South Vietnamese president lived and worked behind a park like enclosure. Two Russian tanks were in the grounds, the same tanks that crashed the gates in 1975. The buildings are now a museum and any damage from the war has been repaired.

The written language of Vietnam uses a 24 letter Roman characters, no W and no Z. During the French colonial period the French helped the Vietnamese transcribe their language from Chinese characters to the Roman characters of most of the European languages. Although the Chinese helped the North during the war and the two countries are friendly. The Vietnamese are a little wary of China due to their shared history. They are developing as a nation and like it that way. Vietnam was the only Asian country to liberate itself from the Japanese and yet to suffer the indignity of having the captured Japanese forces used as policemen over them by the Allies until the French returned.

Then with that behind us we went to see the museum of Vietnamese history and culture.

The exhibits were catalogued in both French and Vietnamese. The artifacts varied as they country has 40 or so different ethnic groups from the islands, jungle, hill country, delta and mangrove swamps that make up Vietnam today.

The biggest treat was a show of water puppets held in the museum. This show used water puppets manipulated on long poles hidden under the water and operated from a curtained both. Dragons, crocodiles, mermaids and princesses appeared from behind the curtain and cavorted in the water. Mainly for children, but it got a lot of attention from the granddads and grandmas on the cruise as they videoed the heck out of it to show later at home to their grandchildren.

We moved on to the temples. Religions are very tolerant in this part of the world. Buddhist temples for example have other deities and shrines and marriage between various religious partners is fine as far as they are concerned. All have some feature of ancestor worship. It always seems to involve lots of smoke and burning things so although the temples are splendid to look at we were glad to take a picture or two and get out.

We went to a banquet in one of the fine hotels set up by Cunard The food was great with much more than you could possibly eat and the choices were stunning even by Cunard’s standard. There were all kinds of fish and meat dishes, curries, Chinese dishes, vegetables, fruit, soups, rice dishes, noodles and barbequed everything. To add to these delights we were treated to some traditional Vietnamese music and dancing. The young women dancers were beautiful and graceful and the musicians really good with their instruments in making melodious music. After the show we visited the Rex hotel where all the war correspondents stayed during the Vietnam war. Very lovely cool place undamged apparently unlike the situation in Bagdad I believe.

We were impressed with Saigon and would like to see Halong Bay and Hanoi some day. Vietnam will be a major holiday destination soon if it isn’t already and a country to invest in. Probably more tolerant a society than any we have seen so far.

And so back to the ship by bus. Light dinner for us as we were packed from the banquet and on to a show. Tough life, this.

Laem Chabang and elephants in Thailand coming up next.